Rob Ford says he ‘could have’ charged at reporter with fist raised

Rob Ford doesn't deny charging at Star reporter with a raised fist

TORONTO — Rob Ford is not denying Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale’s allegations that the Toronto Mayor charged at him with his fist raised during a Wednesday night confrontation on public property behind Ford’s home.

When asked by the National Post if Dale’s story was true, Ford suggested he was so upset at the time he couldn’t quite remember his actions.

“I very well could have been doing that,” the Mayor said.

“My first and foremost thing in my life is to protect my kids and my wife, and when someone has their back turned in a jacket, at night…. I’m going to do whatever to protect my family. But once I saw who it was, I was more shocked. I don’t know who was shocked more. The nerve of this guy.”

Police were called to Ford’s home Wednesday night after Dale had come to the neighbourhood for a story on how the Mayor was attempting to buy a sliver of neighbouring Scarlett Mills Park in order to build an enhanced security fence.

Dale, who spoke with police Thursday afternoon about the incident, said Ford’s versions of events are neither “accurate or honest.”

Meltwater Group has analyzed the social media response to last night’s incident near Mayor Rob Ford’s home and says Twitter users are siding with the Toronto Star.

Twitter is not exactly a representative example of the population of the whole. Twitter users tend to be younger, more liberal and much more likely to be members of the media than the general public.

Both Ford and Dale do agree that the reporter, who cuts a fairly small figure, cried out for help and was frightened by the encounter.

“At some point, he charged with a fist cocked at his head as if he wanted to punch me,” Dale told reporters Thursday afternoon. “I am not ashamed to say I yelled out for help repeatedly.

“I’ve taken some Twitter heat for being a wuss but I was frightened. I have never been in a fight in my life.”

Ford says he never physically touched Dale, although he admitted to cornering him near his fence, although on public property.

“I didn’t hit him, I didn’t touch him. When I went over to pick up (the recorder and phone Dale dropped), he ran round me, and took off, back through the terrain, back through the parking lot, jumped in a car and that was it,” Ford said.

Dale says he was doing his due diligence as a reporter and wanted to check out the property in question. However, he was not sure where the land the Mayor wanted to buy actually was (it is to the side of his home) and thought it might have been the area of public property behind the Mayor’s fence.

Both Ford and Dale agree that their confrontation took place on public property.

Ford was alerted to a man’s presence by a neighbour and set off to confront the person in the property behind his fenced off backyard.

“There were cinder blocks, my neighbour said he saw him standing… he said this guy was on cinder blocks, over your wooden fence, taking pictures,” Ford said.

Dale denied Ford’s allegations that the reporter peered over his backyard fence by standing on cinder blocks. Dale said he didn’t even notice the blocks until he saw them on TV Thursday.

“I didn’t jump, I didn’t peer,” Dale said. “I never made any attempt to look through windows, to see people.”

“As far as we are concerned, the police have seen it, we don’t need to prove that he was there, Daniel Dale admitted he was there, Rob caught him there, the neighbours saw him there,” Doug Ford told the National Post.

When asked why not release the video to the public, considering Dale’s and the Mayor’s versions of the events differ sharply, Doug Ford demurred.

“It’s with the police right now, you can see his head bobbing up and down behind the fence, it’s a distance from the cameras to the fence, but you can see distinctly his head bobbing,” he responded.

“It’s not even the point. The thing is, it might not have been the Toronto Star hiding in the bushes, it could have been some nut case.”

Doug Ford says he’s told his younger brother that he should have security, something previous Toronto mayors have had.

“Rob thinks he’s just the average guy and says ‘I don’t need security’ and I remind that ‘You’re the Mayor of the largest city in Canada, the Mayor the fifth largest city in North America,’” Ford said.

“I don’t care if it’s Rob as Mayor or someone else, you definitely need security for the Mayor in these times.”

Doug Ford also said the Mayor should not have confronted the person near his fence, he should have just called police.

Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti said Canadians do not have an appetite for “paparazzi styled reporting.”

“I think that there are some players in this city that don’t want him to be the Mayor next term. What they’re doing by doing all this is grabbing the sympathy vote next time. They’re only making him more popular,” said Mammoliti.

He says whether or not the reporter was on public or private property is not the point. “How would anyone feel if you had cameras around your children and your wife,” he said.

The councillor also said he believes a security detail is a “must” for the Mayor of any big city, although he’s not sure the municipality can afford it.

“Especially with all the nuts that we have roaming the streets, and what they’re capable of,” he said. “Not that journalists are a problem, they’re not. I don’t think journalists are a problem to us physically.”

MEDIA BLACKOUT THREATENED

Earlier Thursday, Mayor Ford demanded the Toronto Star remove Dale from the city hall beat and said he won’t talk to any other reporters if Dale is around.

“I will not be talking to any reporters if he’s part of that scrum. They have to take him out of City Hall,” Ford said on The John Oakley Show on AM640 Thursday morning.

Toronto Star spokesman Bob Hepburn says Dale, who won a National Newspaper Award last week, will not be leaving the city hall beat.

“This is bad move on the Mayor’s part, how does he expect to get his views known, whether it’s in the Toronto Star or in the National Post?” Hepburn said.

Ford has long been at odds with the Star, and he now says the paper’s reporting constitutes “harassment.”

“They are a left wing paper, they don’t like what I am doing,” he said.

Hepburn bristled at the suggestion of harassment from the Star.

“We are not harassing, we are not stalking the Mayor or his family … we are covering the mayor in a professional and courteous manner,” he said.

Ford added he is considering legal action.

“Enough is enough, I’ve had it with these people,” he said.

Hepburn says Dale or the Star is not considering legal action against the mayor over Wednesday’s incident.

He said Dale’s story on the potential park purchase was newsworthy.

“He went to the park, as any good reporter would … it was 7:30 at night, it was fully bright … he wanted to see the property in question,” he said.

“If that story had broken this morning, every news organization and TV camera crew would have been in the same position in the park.”

FORD SAYS, STAR SAYS

Ford said he was “pretty upset” when he confronted Dale – who he recognized – but doesn’t know why Dale would have been worried he was about to get assaulted.

“He started saying ‘Help, help, help and I said ‘What are you saying help for?’” Ford said.

Zravko Gagro, Ford’s next door neighbour, reported seeing a man just before 8 p.m. – about 30 minutes before sundown.

“He looked very fishy, and I went to the Mayor’s house and I told him what was going on,” Gagro said.

Ford accused Dale of peering over his back fence and taking photos, but also said when he confronted Dale, the reporter was “five metres” away from his back fence.

The Mayor says the land that he wished to purchase was a “football field” away from where he confronted Dale.

Police have been called to Ford’s home several times in the last six months.

In January, police were called to Mr. Ford’s home after a former boyfriend of Mr. Ford’s sister, Kathy, forced his way into the home and threatened the Mayor. The man was charged with two counts threatening death and forcible entry.

Last October, Mr. Ford called police after This Hour Has 22 Minutes actress Mary Walsh accosted him in his front yard as part of a comedy skit.